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Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn Liddell (born September 22, 1977 or 1979 in Malibu, California as Emily Autumn Fritzges) ''is an American violinist, singer, writer, and poet most well known for her works relating to the theme of The Asylum. As of 2016 she has released five studio albums a number of EPs, a poetry books, and her novel, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, an autobiography and historical fiction thriller Life and Career 'Beginnings' Autumn was born in Malibu, California in September of 1977 or 1979. She is the daughter of costume designer Janice Longmire and Wolfgang Friztges. She is the second oldest of four siblings. In her autobiographical novel, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian'' Girls, Autumn comments on how auditory hallucinations, stemming from bipolar disorder, came to her at a very young age. She would drown out these voices by playing Pachelbel's Canon in D in her head until she could sleep. When she was four years old, she started learning the violin by her own choice stating that she didn't know why she wanted a violin, but she was glad she had it. When she was around 10 she left school to focus on her musical training.http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/reviews/emilieautumn.htm - I had an odd scenario happen to me in that, at some point, around age ten, my musical training and my general education became one. By this I mean that, due to my complete involvement in and commitment to the study of music, the school life was nothing more than an inconvenient distraction. And as I hated it anyway, what with the status as "weird," "antisocial," and the physical threats, there seemed to be no reason to go anymore, so I just didn't. I stayed at home, took lessons, had orchestra practice, practiced on my own up to eight hours a day, rode my horse, and when I wasn't doing either of those, I was reading everything under the sun from music history to feminist literature to Shakespeare, which is why I'm not a complete idiot at this time. At 10 she attended the Coburn School of Performing Arts, studying chamber music, jazz and theory. http://bonnytymepyrate.tumblr.com/post/154781333314/emilie-autumn-enjoying-busy-summer Autumn, who studied chamber music, jazz and theory at the Coburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, toured Europe when she was 12. A few years later, she was accepted at Indiana University’s School of Music at Bloomington. But dressing provocatively drew the ire of professors. Autumn eventually left the college. She attended Indiana University at the age of 15, however, she dropped out due to disagreements with her professors on her unorthodox appearance when performing. http://emilieautumnarchives.tumblr.com/post/23793446959/when-emilie-was-under-the-label-seraph-which From Seraph Record's website - Original version no longer online "At 15, Emilie won a place at top music conservatory, Indiana University, but eventually left school when her unorthodox music and by now notorious fashion sense, a disturbing mix of corsets and combat boots, clashed with the university authorities" At 18 Emilie was signed to a classical label which she would leave for the same reason she left university. She has also spoken on some occasions about experiences with a "major label" which she described as horrible due to a lack of creative control including them wanting her to play violin less as they saw it as possibly intimidating to audiences, the label hiring other writers for her songs. http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/reviews/emilieautumn.htm "That experience was very unpleasant. One might say, "horrible." I really began working when I was still quite young, and I've had so many managers and would-be producers it's truly disgusting. People in the industry were always, always, always telling me that I would be so very saleable if only I would sing as well as play the violin. This of course only strengthened my resolve to never sing because I was defiant and I felt that my skill on the violin, something I had spent all my life slaving over and bonding with, really ought to be enough. Then one day I get the bright idea to record one of my songs onto my four track and sing the vocal parts myself, just so that this one record label who had asked to sign me could get the idea of what the ''song was supposed to sound like. This tape gets to a producer under contract with another label, a major, and I'm called in for a meeting. I play for them. I sing for them. I show them my material. They flip and tell me I'm beautiful, perfect, don't need to change a thing, blah, blah, blah. I'm 18 and not at all sure I want to do this, but now I'm committed to singing, and I'm getting used to my voice, and I'm having fun with it. But things deteriorate rapidly when another writer is flown in, another arranger is flown in, and suddenly my songs don't sounds like mine anymore, and my violin is being thinned out because the producers wholeheartedly believe that the general public is "threatened" by any reference to what could be seen as "classical." Of course, I balk, and where I was once treated like a princess, I'm now dealt with as a rebellious ingrate who has to be kept in line with constant monitoring and excessive restraints. I go to my manager, my first from the big leagues, for help, and his heart is so set on the cash from the deal and subsequent touring that he tells me I'm crazy for complaining and that he can't support me if I choose to break the deal. I broke the deal." '''Enchant Era (2001-04) In 2000 Emilie was signed to Seraph Records with whom she would release Chambermaid EP and a promo CD for On A Day... In 2001, Emilie released a single called By the Sword ''in response to the Twin-Tower terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. All proceeds went to the Red Cross. Her first full-length vocal album, ''Enchant, ''was released in 2003. The album artwork contained the "Enchant Puzzle," which offered a reward of the Faerie Queene's clothing if the listener could decipher Autumn's puzzle. The prizes included The Queene's wings, ruff, fan, and scepter. To this day, the puzzle has not been solved, though Autumn insists that the puzzle is still solveable. Autumn and a close friend, known as Queen fLee, would begin small independent fashion houses known as WillowTech House and Alter, A Shrine to Recycled Fashion. Such things as shirts, jewelry, perfume, hair accessories, and faerie wings were sold through these venues. The most noteable release was Autumn's first perfume, "Mistress." Autumn also had a Cafe Press website that hosted Traitor Records, WillowTech House, and Emilie Autumn goods from approximately 2001 to 2005. In 2004, Courtney Love stumbled upon Emilie's violin abilities and insisted that Autumn come work with her on her new album, "America's Sweetheart." Autumn complied and joined Love's band, the Chelsea, for recording and touring about Europe. However, much of Autumn's violin work did not get released on the album; she commented: "This had to do entirely with new producers taking over the project after our little vacation in France, and carefully discarding all of our sessions." During this time, she would appear on the Late Show with David Letterman and perform in venues otherwise unavailable to a fledgling artist. Later in 2004, Emilie would appear on WGTV's ''Crafter's Coast to Coast ''television series. In the episode, she demonstrated how to make Faerie Wings and Sushi Soap. In 2005, Emilie would re-release Across the Sky and Other Poems with some additional poems as ''Your Sugar Sits Untouched, ''which was sold through CafePress.com as a WillowTech House product. It featured a full-length spoken voice double-disc release with the book, wherein Autumn read all her poetry with minor musical background. 'Opheliac Era (2005-11) At some point during 2005, Emilie was signed onto the German Record label, Trisol Records. Her work on Opheliac from 2004 would continue in Chicago with friend and sound engineer, Inkydust at Mad Villian Studios. Other collaborations in 2005 included costuming Billy Corgan's "Walking Shade" music video and the violin and vocals for the track "Gates of Eternity" on Attrition's album, The Voice of Mary Ann Cotton. ''Autumn later shamed the release of her work, as it was "unapproved and altered" from her original work and intended for a separate release with Martin Bowes. In January of 2006, Emilie would perform "Misery Loves Company" on Chicago's WGN network to promote her album shortly before it's release in September of 2006. She also released her own Opheliac EP of the album through Traitor Records (which would be Traitor's last release) in April to promote the album, which included six songs from ''Opheliac. ''The album's fifth track did not work due to a malfuntion with the printer. While these EPs were shipping out, Autumn's home was robbed, which caused a dely in the shipping and production of the EP. A double feature EP was released (Liar/Dead is the New Alive EP) in 2006 that featured two tracks Opheliac, new material, and a sneak-peek at Autumn's upcoming instrumental album, ''Laced/Unlaced. '' Following this EP release in October of 2006, Autum's violin work was featured in Brendon Small's and Adult Swim's ''Metalocalypse. ''She covered the television's shows intro music and was featured for a single episode and her violin is present in the 2007 release of ''The Dethalbum. ''Following this, Emilie would work on ''Laced/Unlaced ''during her stay with Small. The instrumental two-disc classical and industrial album would be released in 2007. The tracks "Unlaced" and "Face the Wall" were added to her live show. The first disc, ''Laced, was a re-release of On a Day... She later released A Bit O This & That in 2007, a compilation of her covers, classical pieces, and her own songs. In 2008, she released the EP 4 o'Clock, which contained remixes of songs from Opheliac, new songs, and a reading from her autobiographical novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. She also released another EP, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody, the same year. A year later, Autumn broke away from Trisol Music Group to join The End Records and re- release Opheliac ''in the United States on October 27, 2009; previously, it was only available there as an import. The re-release included extras such as pictures, bonus tracks, an excerpt from ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, and a video of a puppet singing one of her songs. In late 2009 and early 2010, Autumn's autobiographical novel, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, ''was released after much anticipation from fans. At nearly 5-pounds, the hardcover book is printed on glossy paper and features Emilie's journal writings, designs, sketches, and story about her time spent in a psychiatric ward and the events that occurred within. Autumn's experiences remain highly controversial to fans and critics, who wonder on the truthfulness and accurracy of her descriptions and thoughts of the medical health care system in America. 2009 also saw the release of Autumn's ''The Opheliac Companion, ''which was a nine-hour commentary with herself and Inkydust about the 2006 release. It covered all the songs on the first disc of the original album. During this time, Emilie went on extensive touring with ''Opheliac, ''touring both North America and the Europe seven times. 'Fight Like A Girl Era (2011-Present) The first news of Emilie's new album came in the tracks of The Opheliac Companion, ''wherein Emilie stated that the new album might be called "Fight Like A Girl." In 2010, Autumn released the acronym "F.L.A.G." on Twitter before revealing the album's full title: ''Fight Like A Girl. ''The album was released on July 24, 2012, after a two-track digital single early on in the year. The album is based on Emilie's aforementioned novel, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. ''It is also meant to serve as a blue print for an upcoming musical Autumn plans to debut on London's Westend before bringing it to the States and formulating a movie script from the play. Emilie has performed on two tours with this album and is coming up on her third, which will be a European tour. The title track, "Fight Like A Girl" was also performed during on of Emilie's last ''Opheliac Concerts ''in Australia when she was participating in the Harvest Music Festival in 2011. A music video for the title track was released in April of 2013, having been filmed in December 2012 in a theater in downtown LA. Many co-stars from ''The Devil's Carnival ''were featured in the seven-minute video, including Marc Senter and Dayton Callie. It was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, friend and collaborator of Autumn. Fans were given the chance to appear in the music video through an online screening and casting call. In 2013 she relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles. Autumn opened an Official Fan Club (Asylum Army Fan Club) in May of 2013, with registration costs of $100 for a life-time membership and in February of 2014 monthly and quarterly memberships replaced the lifetime membership. Fan Club members had access to a small number of private posts and videos and could participate in video chats with Emilie. The Fan Club was discontinued September 8th 2014. Personal Life 'Family' Emilie has claimed that her family died in a fire on several occassions, but rarely speaks more on them than that. As far as is known, her mother and siblings are alive. There has been much speculation among fans for Emilie's reasons for why she told this story, but no true answer beyond that. As according to the audio book for The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls, it would appear that Emilie is retiring this story. In this edition when asked about her family, her responce is simply "None." with no elaboration to the meaning. In 2004, Emilie's father Wolfgang Frizges died of lung cancer. She spoke about this in a post on her forum, on 28 September 2004. She describes him as someone she was never close to. Due to her insistance on telling her fandom that her family died in a fire, this post was eventually deleted even before the forum was closed and can now only be read in form of screencaptures taken before the post was removed. It would be many years before Emilie would speak of her family at all again, but in a Facebook post on November 10, 2016, in reaction to the US Presidential Election, she spoke of her time growing up. Her father was a German immigrant who came to the US at the age of 12 after growing up in an orphanage. At some point, he worked to lose his accent due to prejudice of other children in school, and ran away from home at 14 due to abuse from his father. During Emilie's childhood he owned a diner. Emilie's mother, Jan Longmire, is a costume designer who specializes in figure skating costumes. Emilie is one of four siblings. Autumn and her Mother, Janice, ran a clothing store called "Enchant Clothing & Costume" from 2000 to 2001. Autumn was the model for the store's website, which displayed clothing in style of the Renaissance period such as ruffs, capes, corests, and cuffs. Enchant Clothing & Costume was listed as a sponsor of Emilie's during the Enchant Era. In a 2009 German interview, Emilie described her "favorite scar" to her interviewer. She explained that it was an eel bite that had left her with two fang marks on both sides of her right palm, where the eel had dug in its fangs and would not let go as Autumn tried to rescue it. In a much earlier article about Nigel Kennedy for a San Fransico e-paper, a girl named "Autumn Fritzges," who was accompanied by her Mother Jan, recounted a similar tale about her sister's eel that had just bitten her. Said bite rendered her hands useless for playing the violin. 'Relationships' Autumn has been in an number of semi-public relationships during her career. Most of these relationships were never explicitly revealed as romantic, but Autumn lived with each of them for an extended period of time. She has also collaborated with each of the following men. #Jimmy Vanaria (2003-2005) #Billy Corgan (2005) #Brendon Small (2006-2007) #Marc Senter (2011-current) Vanaria was the bassist in her live band when Autumn was touring with her ''Enchant album in 2003 and 2004. She and Vanaria owned a dog together, Willow, whom Vanaria retained ownership of when the couple split. Billy Corgan was a friend and ex-boyfriend of Courtney Love, whom Autumn toured with in 2004. In 2005, she designed the costumes for his music video and performed with him on WGN, featuring her violin. Autumn's song, In The Lake, is speculated to be about him and the time she was living with him. In 2006 or 2007, Autumn was living with Small in Los Angeles. She collaborated with Dethklok on their song "Dethharmonic" and her string work was featured in an episode of Adult Swim's Metalocalypse. In 2007, she appeared live with them and performed her violin for the song. A good portion of Laced/Unlaced was recorded in Brendon's house. Autumn met Marc Senter on the set of The Devil's Carnival in 2011, in which he featured a starring role as "The Scorpion." It has never been officially announced that the two are dating; however, it is heavily implied through their interactions on Twitter and Instagram. Senter was featured in Autumn's music video for her song, Fight Like A Girl and the two have formed a band known as Platonic Friends. On June 24, 2012, Autumn conducted a live webcast for her Asylum Army Fan Club from Marc Senter's house (or apartment).Again, it was not confirmed as his place of residence. However, he appeared in the webcast with her and they spoke of him going to take a shower. When Autumn tried to communicate to Captain Maggot (who was a guest) where to find things around the house, she repeatedly whispered the name of the person she was referring to. She also talked about how she and Marc washed their faces together in the mornings when asked about her skin routine. Influences and Style Emilie has influences that are highly classical, from Mozart to Bach. Her lyrics are heavily inspired by Shakespeare's works, most noteably Hamlet, ''and she is a lover of Edgar Allen Poe. Her earliest music has a highly classical and Renaissance/Baroque influence, while works such as ''Opheliac ''seem to be influenced by the goth and industrial culture. ''Laced/Unlaced ''seems to be most akin to heavy metal industrial music (though it is self-proclaimed "victoriandustrial" music), while ''Fight Like A Girl ''is heavily stylized to Broadway musicals. Autumn's influences are far and wide in the musical world. Overall, her music is best described as a mix of classical, industrial, and glam rock (excluding ''Enchant), however,'' Autumn herself has described her music and style as "Psychotic, Vaudeville and Burlesque." Her vocal range is contralto. Her live performances are best described as a mix of rock and burlesque, as well as a bit of dinner theater as the band and lead singer throw tea, cupcakes, and other baked goods into the audience. One member of her band, Veronica Varlow, performs a burlesque routine each night. Her musical taste is also varied, as she is a fan of bands such as Moi Dix Mois, Nigel Kennedy, and Morrissey, all of whom practice very different styles of music. Discography '''Studio Albums' *On A Day... (1997) *Enchant (2003) *Opheliac (2006) *Laced/Unlaced (2007) *Fight Like A Girl (2012) Compilation Albums *A Bit O' This & That (2007) EPs, Singles, and Companion Albums *Chambermaid EP (2001) *By the Sword Single (2001) *Opheliac EP (2006) *Liar & Dead is the New Alive EP (2006) *4 o'Clock EP (2008) *Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody Double Feature EP (2008) *The Opheliac Companion (2009) *Fight Like A Girl (digital download) (2012) Books and Broadway Musical Autumn has written three books to date, which include one full-length novel and two poetry books. She also has other writing projects she speaks about on occassion, such as The Alphabet Book of Ex-Boyfriends ''and a tea book. *Across the Sky & Other Poems (2001) *Your Sugar Sits Untouched Poetry Book & Spoken Word Album (2005) *The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (2009) Her most recent title, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, is the inspiration and basis for her newest album, Fight Like A Girl. ''Together, both the book and the album are to lead up to the creation of a musical about ''The Asylum... ''that Autumn intends to launch in 2014 on London's Westend. After the musical there is rumored to be a movie, both of which will be directed by Darren Bousman. Collaborations *Backing vocals and violin on the album ''America's Sweetheart (2003) by Courtney Love *Backing vocals and violin on the album TheFutureEmbrace (2005) by Billy Corgan *Violin on the album The Dethalbum (2007) by Dethklok *Opening music on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, ''ep. "Fat Kid goes to the Detharmonic" *Song "Organ Grinder" on the European edition of the ''Saw III soundtrack *Remix version of "Dead Is The New Alive" on the international version of the Saw IV soundtrack *Violin on the track "UR A WMN NOW" on OTEP's fourth album, Smash the Control Machine (2009) *Vocals and violin on the song "Dry" by Die Warzau *Vocals and violin on the song "The Gates of Eternity" by Attrition *Vocals and violin featured on The Devil's Carnival album *Playing the role of "The Painted Doll" for The Devil's Carnival film *Album with Marc Senter for the band Platonic Friends Other Musical Projects Emilie has been associated with many other musical projects throughout here career, most of which have not come to see the light of day. These projects include: *Ravensong *Convent *The Jane Brooks Project *Platonic Friends The most recent of these projects, Platonic Friends , is a collaberation between Emilie Autumn and Marc Senter, a friend and co-star of Autumn in her musical and in The Devil's Carnival. Platonic Friends also is very likely to simply be an inside joke of Emilie and Marc's and not an actual project at all. Links *Emilie Autumn's Official Website *The Asylum Emporium *Emilie Autumn on Facebook *Emilie Autumn on Twitter *Emilie Autumn on YouTube *Emilie Autumn on Instagram *Emilie Autumn on Vine References Category:The Bloody Crumpets Category:Current Bloody Crumpets